Round 9 DiffeRANCHals

Special Update from MLS Fantasy Boss: In honor of Tyler “Ranchinator” Norman, this article series is being renamed “DiffeRanchals.” A new graphic will come soon!

Every week, I’m going to go over my suggestions from last week, and determine if they were a good or bad pick based on position and points. To describe in detail the ranking system here is the metric: bust = 3 or fewer points (or not starting), average = 4-5 points, good = 6-8 points, great = 9+ points. 

• Nick Marsman – Average (5 points)
• Aime Mabika – Bust (2 points)
• Omar Gonzalez – Bust (0 points)
• Remi Walter – Bust (3 points)
• Facundo Torres – Bust (3 points)
• Justin Rennicks – Bust (1 point)
• Diego Rubio – Bust (3 points)

 

Week 8 Final Results: 1 Average, 6 Busts

Full Season Results: 6 Great, 8 Goods, 5 Average, 31 Busts

Alright, time to get serious. I can’t make any excuses, that was an absolutely terrible week for my DiffeRanchials. I hope that nobody fell into the same trap that I did with some of those picks. You know it’s a bad week when the goalkeeper (who didn’t even get a clean sheet) had the best score out of the 7 differentials. I’m back home and have had time to research some differentials this week, hopefully they are better than last week! For the record: I would include a NYCFC player this week, but just about every one of them has a reason to be on your team. 

Robert Voloder, $4.8m or Kortne Ford,  $4.2m (SKC Defender)

Kansas City has not looked that well offensively. Where they have looked decent, however, is in defense. Allowing only 2 goals in their 4 home games, and Isimat-Mirin being out, makes Voloder/Ford a wonderful cheap choice. Coming in at $4.8m and being 0.5% and 1.05% owned, Voloder/Ford come into this week as my most confident pick. He will be paired next to Fontas in the center back role. SKC also gets a favorable matchup playing Dallas, who have yet to score a goal on the road this season. SKC plays late on Saturday, making Voloder/Ford a great backend of a switcheroo!

Derrick Williams, $7.2m (LA Galaxy Defender)

LA Galaxy’s defense has been sneakily good lately, registering back to back shutouts against Chicago and Nashville. This week the Galaxy are going on the road to Salt Lake. RSL has been slowly slipping from their strong start to the season. Everything’s adding up to another clean sheet for the Galaxy. Williams is the player that pops out to me due to the bonus points he’s been producing. He has yet to miss a clearance bonus point and is starting to get passing bonus points.

Jean Mota, $6.4m (Inter Miami Midfielder)

Jean Mota is currently averaging 4 points per game, but has been a bit unlucky to not have an assist to his name yet. Mota is on all set pieces and corner kicks for Inter Miami and has registered 13 key passes. That means he has made the final pass resulting in a shot 13 times without an assist. Mota gets a favorable matchup this week against a New England side that is allowing 1.87 goals per 90 minutes. With Miami also finding ways to score in the form of Campana, Mota had a very good chance of producing his first assist of the season this weekend.

Marcelino Moreno, $8.1m (Atlanta Midfielder)

I don’t know about you, but I would love to play in the #10 against a team that allows the most goals per shot on target (0.45) and has yet to register a clean sheet. Moreno is also on penalty kicks. The main downside to Moreno is that Atlanta has only found the back of the net 2 times in the last 4 games. The last time Atlanta scored more than one goal in a game was when they hosted.. Montreal.. Oh. If anybody remembers, that was a 3-3 game where Atlanta were down 1-3 when Dom Dwyer picked up a red card. Then magic happened. Imagine if Atlanta played with that intensity the entire game with 11 men! I think that Atlanta will be able to put up a minimum of 2 goals against Montreal. Don’t be surprised if Moreno is involved in at least one of those two goals.

Michael Barrios, $6.1m (Colorado Forward)

I can already picture Reid rolling his eyes reading this article. If Michael Barrios hits this week, don’t be surprised if I’m never allowed to write another article for MLS Fantasy Boss. I may even be kicked off of this article for even suggesting Barrios! If this is my last article, I had a wonderful time writing and bid you all a farewell. Oh, you want reasoning? Well, Jack Price is out this week with a hamstring injury and Michael Barrios takes over set piece duty. Against a Portland team that doesn’t have Diego Chara or Sebastian Blanco, I expect a lot of goals. (Portland also has allowed the most shots this season).

Brenner, $6.9m (Cincinnati Forward)

I’m not trying to sell too much here. Brenner should only be considered if he starts this weekend with Brandon Vazquez remaining questionable on the injury report. If Brandon Vazquez starts, I would include him as your bench forward. Toronto ranks as the 3rd worst team in total shots allowed, only ahead of Charlotte and Portland. Shots per 90? 2nd worst. Shots on target per 90? 1st worst. The shots on target per 90 is the stat that really needs to be highlighted. Toronto has allowed a total of 6.62 shots on target per 90 minutes. The next closest team is DC United at 5.57 shots on target per 90 minutes. Toronto is allowing a full extra 1 shot on target per 90 minutes than any other team in the MLS. If I were you, I would pick either Lucho Acosta (ranked 1st in key passes this season) or a forward that’s going to take shots against Toronto. Oh, by the way, Brenner ranks 6th in the most shots per 90 minutes. With Cincinnati playing the first game of the week, Brenner is a prime candidate for a cheap bench switcheroo play. 

 

Honorable Mentions:

• Lucho Acosta – The key pass playmaker against the worst defense in shots on target per 90 minutes? Yes please! I just can’t justify his price as a differential
• Julian Gressel – Similar to Acosta, I can’t justify a defender priced at $9.5m as a differential. Gressel has a wonderful matchup against a Columbus team that hasn’t scored in 360 minutes.
• Johnny Russell – Just a hunch that SKC will score, and Johnny will be involved.
• Joe Willis – Bold prediction of the week: Joe Willis saves a PK!